Hi, I'm SimplifyMyLife2022

The only area of doubt for me, in the beginning, was polygamy, and I almost stopped attending over that. My husband was very supportive, and we see things the same way, thankfully.

Fast forward 42 years later when the original 11 essays by the church came out in 2013. After reading the most problematic one (for my husband and me) titled "Race & the Priesthood," I was dumbfounded. How can the church say that Brigham Young was a prophet BUT he was a product of his time to explain his support of SLAVERY, for heaven's sake! What happened to "follow the prophet, and you won't be led astray"?

What a contradiction. I have two ancestors (Baptists) who owned a few slaves in the early 1800s, but they freed them when they turned 21. They were not prophets! They were just everyday people who had a conscience. The other concern my husband and I have with this essay is that it's so WEAK in its explanation about why BY refused to allow black people to have the priesthood or to enter the temple. There was NEVER a revelation about this, either.

During the pandemic my husband and I stayed home the last couple of years; we had a stake calling, so we didn't need to be there in person so we did Zoom. We began to do more research and read about the many discrepancies in the various essays and what the church has taught us all for 200 years. It also became clear why leaders have always said to avoid reading "anti Mormon" literature: Those articles disputed the things we were led to believe were true with FACTS.

Another issue for us was the "new policy" that came out in Nov. 2015 excluding children of gay parents from being baptized, etc. I knew immediately that Jesus would NEVER approve of such a thing. During my interview for a recommend a few years ago I mentioned that. I said I didn't think Jesus would approve, but I was willing to give Pres. Monson the benefit of the doubt. The counselor in the SP said with a condescending smile, "Well, Sister ***, it's good you're giving the prophet the benefit of the doubt." I thought so! Interestingly enough, Pres. Nelson rescinded the "new policy" in 2019. So which was done by inspiration?

During this time, we also learned of the $100 Billion nest egg that has been accumulated from tithing money. We were especially disgusted to hear about the $$$ put into City Creek Mall and Beneficial Insurance. It's wrong for the church to "build up gain" when the scriptures are full of examples of how Jesus views accumulating wealth. From what I've read, the LDS Church is now the wealthiest church in the world.

We've always paid our tithing in order to have a current recommend; however, it's hard to justify paying that money when it's going to some vault instead of doing some good. I realize the church does a lot of humanitarian work, but it could do SO much more! In addition to that, we know the church's opposition to the ERA and to gay marriage and rights, and we'd rather donate some money to groups that might help people now. We plan to donate some money to candidates who are for the ERA and against the NRA, for example.

So that's it. I've been an active member for 51 years, and although I won't attempt to persuade others, I am glad to finally have peace. While I believe in God, I believe all religions have some of the truth. Still, I have a sense of betrayal and loss; it always sounded too good to be true, and it turns out it was.